


After it Rains

by QuetzalcoatlFC



Series: Life with Akira Kurusu [4]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Idiots in Love, Kissing, Light Angst, Love, Reader-Insert, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-13 18:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21196055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuetzalcoatlFC/pseuds/QuetzalcoatlFC
Summary: Akira is scouted by a recruiter for a new butler cafe in Tokyo, and the rainy season has arrived. Will things go smoothly, or is a storm brewing?





	After it Rains

“Hey, hey, hey, hey . . .” A man walked in front of Akira and I while we were walking through Shibuya one afternoon. He wore a cheap, white summer suit with a bright powder blue shirt underneath. His breath reeked of liquor and cigarettes when he came close to us. I was immediately uncomfortable and held Akira’s hand tighter as he approached.

“Interested?” He extended his arm and handed each of us a flier. “TOKYO’S Most POPULAR Butler and Maid Cafe!” An attractive boy and girl, no older than 20, dressed in an immaculately clean butler suit and a brilliant French maid dress posed with their backs to each other on the main picture of the flier. Their smiles seemed genuine, welcoming and friendly.

“You . . .” he motioned in my direction with vague disinterest and a circular wrist motion. “You’re a bit plain faced.” He turned toward Akira with a sparkle in his eye. His lips widened into a smile, revealing a gold tooth hidden behind his lips. “But you . . . you’ve got potential.” The sleazy looking man reached into his coat pocket and put a small business card in Akira’s hand. “If you’re looking for big money . . . an easy job . . . give me a ring.” And before we could react, he turned on his heel, pushed back his greasy hair with one swift motion and disappeared into the Shibuya crowd once again, off to find his next target.

We continued toward the train awkwardly laughing at our interaction with the strange man. Akira seemed distracted and distant. When we finally boarded the train, it was nearly empty except for a few other homeward bound Shujin students, a modern miracle during rush hour in Tokyo. As we boarded the train, I crumpled the flier and pushed it into a recycling can.

We sat together on a pair of seats near the back of the train car. My eyelids began to feel heavy. I leaned my head against Akira’s shoulder and let the train lull me to sleep.

“You aren’t seriously considering it . . . are you?” the drowsiness of sleep made me ask out loud. But, I wanted to know. The sounds of chatting Shujin students drowned out Akira’s response as I dozed off.

***

“The day after it rains . . . when the sky opens up and there’s no clouds in sight,” my father used to say, “That’s when it’s the coldest.”

Rainy season was upon us. Every morning before leaving for school, I’d check the weather forecast during breakfast for the chances of rain. “75% chance of rain today!” The weatherman would announce his prediction proudly only to be proven incorrect, yet again, by Mother Nature. If Mother Nature really were a mother, she would be laughing at the pointless attempts by silly humans trying to beat the rain. If Mother Nature really wanted you to get wet, she would make the weatherman say “0% chance of rain today!” and unleash a tiny cloud to follow you around all day floating over your head and shower you in rain all day.

But those are the kind of things that happen in comedies or cartoons. And, as cliché as these kinds of things can get: the one day the forecast said there were little to no chances of rain, I didn’t bring my umbrella, placing a fairly secure bet on the weatherman’s prediction, only to be handed the worst hand in the game.

It started raining a few minutes after lunchtime. With her back to the class, Ms. Kawakami jumped at the sound of cheering students crowding around the window upon sight of the first droplets of rain running down the glass.

Instead of joy, I felt uncomfortable nervousness.  _ It’s probably only a few showers . . . by the time school’s over, the rain will be gone. Yeah, that’s right.  _ I nodded to myself in confidence.  _ If the weatherman can go out on TV and be blatantly wrong once in a while, I can be confident in my prediction as well. _ Mother Nature, seemingly listening in on my thoughts, poured rain over Tokyo even harder.

After school was over, I walked over to Akira. He lifted his attention from his bag and met me with a smile. The first thing that came to mind was how much I wanted to kiss him. It felt so long since the last time I had. My heart felt restrained within a cage. I wiped my sweaty hands on the inside of my pockets.

“Ready to go home?”

I nodded and cleared my throat.

“Actually, I umm . . .”

Akira looked up at me with surprise.

“Hmm?”

“I don’t have an umbrella . . . I don’t suppose . . . you have an extra?”

Akira slung his bag over his left shoulder and produced his black umbrella in his right.

“I don’t. Sorry. You’re just going to have to get soaked on the way home.”

His confident smile and wink nearly knocked me to my knees. He could do anything and get away with it if he used such deadly and efficient weapons. I was ready to go out and get drenched by rain if Akira desired.

Luckily, he didn’t. Akira sighed and stretched his arms forward. “I guess I’m going to have to walk you home with my umbrella, aren’t I?” He began to walk out of the classroom and I followed.

“I hope you don’t mind getting close to me.”

I didn’t.

***

We walked straight to my house, both of us sharing the small space underneath his umbrella. On the way home, I felt energized to talk about everything and anything. The way the weatherman was always wrong in the mornings, the way Ms. Kawakami had to control the classroom after it started raining, and the way tea always tastes better when you’re looking out a window at the rain. Akira walked on in silence, either nodding his head or simply agreeing with a quiet, “Mmhmm.”

At the base of the stairs leading up to my apartment, we found refuge from the rain under a metal canopy. I began to prepare my farewell speech.

“Thank you for walking me home, Mr. Kurusu, you’re a gentleman and a-”

Looking up, I stopped mid-sentence upon seeing the entire left side of his uniform dripping in rain.

“You’re . . . you’re soaked.”

Akira tried to wave it off. “Oh, it’s nothing. As long as I get home and take a bath soon, I should be fine.” He turned away from me to begin leaving.

I reached out and held his arm. It was soaked. Completely soaked. Squeezing it gently covered my hand and wrist in rain water.

“Wait! Don’t . . . don’t go.”

He stopped and turned toward me. Time seemed to stop. Rain poured violently all around us.

“You can . . .” my heart started beating and beating and beating and beating. “You can stay here until the rain stops. And dry off for a little.”

Akira winced as if in pain. “I . . . I really have to get back. Sojiro might be waiting for me. I don’t want to make him worry.”

“Please.” my lips trembled upon speaking. I stepped closer and collected myself enough to whisper. I had to be brave. “Please . . . you can . . . stay the night . . .”

Akira closed his eyes and put his hands on my shoulders to push me away.

“I don’t . . . I don’t know how comfortable I would be with that.”

I could feel my heart of glass shattering and lacerating my insides. I wanted the earth to open under my feet and swallow me whole for even suggesting such a thing.

“I . . . I’m sorry. I understand.”

Akira left the space under the metal canopy and opened his umbrella.

He spoke without turning to face me. “Have a good evening.”

“Yeah . . . you too.” The words felt empty exiting my mouth.

***

The following day, from the moment I awoke, I thought about the pain in Akira’s face when he rejected me. I arrived at school early and waited for him to walk in to the classroom. Little by little, the class filled with students, but none of them were Akira. Ms. Kawakami arrived and began homeroom.

After about an hour, Akira arrived late. Ms. Kawakami gave him an earful and threatened to send him to the principal’s for being so unprofessionally tardy again. The class was awkwardly silent until she resumed her lesson.

As soon as the final bell rung ended, I walked to Akira’s desk.

“Akira? Can I talk to you about . . . yesterday? Somewhere private maybe? Like Leblanc?”

Akira shook his head and finished packing his bag. His eyes looked empty. Tired. Exhausted.

“I’m actually really busy today.” Again, he turned and left without turning to look at me. “I’ve got to go.”

I stood alone in the classroom after everyone had left. Alone. Very, very alone.

***

The final nail in the coffin was when I overheard some gossip on the way home.

A group of girls from another high school were talking about this and that when one of them caught an empty gap in the conversation and said, “Have you heard about that maid cafe in Akihabara?”

The girls collectively groaned. “Why would we care about a maid cafe? Don’t only creepy guys go to that kind of thing to see the girls?”

But, the original girl had special information. “No, no! This one isn’t like that! This one has BOYS as well.”

The group of girls gathered closer together, now that their interest had been piqued. I moved myself to a seat closer to them to continue eavesdropping.

“And, there’s a really popular butler right now. I heard you have to make reservations ahead of time to get him because he’s got lots of fans already. He’s super handsome and tall and sweet and really patient with new customers. Oh, and he wears a mask to hide a part of his face as well, but the mystery only adds to how attractive he is, right?”

The girls giggled in delight. A handsome boy serving you delicious sweets and drinks? How novelty.

“They don’t use their real names at the cafe, obviously, but if you ever visit, be sure to ask for ‘The Phantom’, that is, if he’s available. I knew someone who . . .”

Her story continued, but I tuned out the girl’s voices after hearing the only bit of information that interested me.

“The Phantom”. There was only one Phantom I knew, and he was growing more and more distant by the day.

***

And for the first time, in quite a long time, I cried.

I wasn’t looking out the balcony over a beautiful sunset when the tears suddenly welled in my eyes.

I was lying in bed, after making and eating dinner, after cleaning the dishes, after taking out the trash, after taking a bath, after sitting and watching TV for a little and doing homework. After all of that, I laid in bed, and within minutes, I was crying. Not the pretty, elegant crying you see in Hollywood movies where the actresses eyes don’t even turn red and they still look absolutely beautiful when they wipe away the tears.

It was a venting cry. An opening of the emotional valve. I wiped my eyes and my nose with my sleeves and only made them more and more irritated. It was the rejection from Akira. It was him arriving late and tired from working at the maid cafe. It was him telling me he was busy so he could go work at the maid cafe. It was Akira walking away from me at school without turning to look at me. It was the jealousy that he already had hundreds of eyes on him, lots of fans at the maid cafe and on top of all that, was keeping everything a secret from me.

I don’t remember when I stopped crying. I only remember waking up in the morning with a dizzying headache, stinging eyes and a dry and irritated nose.

I pushed myself to my feet, onward toward my tasks and errands for Sunday.

Life continued. With or without “The Phantom.”

***

After the weekend, classes resumed on Monday.

Akira was absent.  
  
Akira was absent again on Tuesday and again on Wednesday.

During a break between classes on Thursday, Ms. Kawakami asked me to see her at the end of the day.

“Kurusu-san has been absent for a while, so I’d like you to take some print-outs to him so he doesn’t fall behind. You know where he lives, right?”

I nodded.

The moment to confront him had arrived.

***

I arrived at the familiar Cafe Leblanc near 6PM. The sign, meant to repel customers and salesmen, read “CLOSED” in a way that seemed vaguely hostile to me. I knocked on the wooden part of the door.

No answer. I knocked again for a slightly longer amount of time.

I turned to leave and go home. I had taken a few steps when I saw a pebble sitting on the corner of the road. I collected a few pebbles in my hands and threw them against the second-floor window. After 3 successful smacks against the glass, I saw Akira open the window and peer out into the street, and upon seeing me, returned inside, scurried down the stairs, and opened the front door. I wanted to give him the papers and leave as soon as possible.

“Kawakami sent me to-”

Akira Kurusu stood in the doorway of Cafe Leblanc leaning against the old wooden frame. His cheeks, nose and forehead were completely flushed of any color, except for bright red around his eyes and the tip of his nose. His hair looked even more messy and frizzy than usual. In one of his hands, he held a crumpled tissue.

“Could we please come inside? It’s cold out.” His voice sounded hoarse and unfamiliar.

“I uhh . . . sure.”

***

Akira prepared a kettle for tea then walked over and sat across from me in the booth.

“Did Ms. Kawakami give you something for me?”

I had nearly forgotten that it was my main objective. “Oh, that’s right.” I produced the packet of hand-outs neatly packed in a folder from my bag.

“Thank you so much.” Akira took the folder and placed it on the seat next to him.

We sat awkwardly in silence while the water for our tea boiled.

“Akira, actually, I . . .”

Before I could make my grand revelation, Akira sneezed and interrupted my thoughts.

“I’m sorry . . . you were saying?”

“Akira, I’m sorry I . . . I thought you were working at the maid cafe.”

Surprise washed over Akira’s face.

“The maid cafe?”

“Yeah, the maid cafe. The one that creepy looking guy told us about when we were in Shibuya a while ago. I thought . . . I thought you were working there.”

Akira blew his nose loudly. Loud enough that Sojiro, two blocks down, probably heard him.

“I told you I wouldn’t right? On the way home after we saw him? Why did you think I lied?”

I sighed and slouched in my seat.

“I just . . . the day it rained, you turned me down. And then the next day you said you were busy and looked really tired. And on the way home, I overheard some girls talking about a really popular boy at that new butler cafe who calls himself ‘The Phantom’ and I just thought . . . I thought you were working there. I got really jealous . . .”

Akira listened intently throughout my explanation.

“I suppose I should apologize. . .” We heard the kettle whistle, meaning it was time for tea. Akira stood and began to prepare the tea while he continued talking. “On the day it rained and you . . . offered to let me stay at your apartment. . . I was already feeling this terrible sickness come on. And the last thing I wanted to do was get you sick, knowing exactly what we were going to do at your place. The next day at school I was late because I felt miserable, but that was no excuse to act so rudely to you. I just wanted to go home and rest, and I was exhausted. I obviously don’t want to get you sick and make you suffer, so I left as soon as I could. It was unbearably painful having to make excuses to be away from you, knowing how much I love you. I'm sorry.”

Akira finished pouring two perfect cups of Darjeeling tea and carried them on a plate to the booth where we were sitting.

“I’m sorry for being unnecessarily rude.” Akira lifted his cup of tea toward his lips and blew on it, creating a crest of hot steam, cascading over the edge of the tea cup. “I just didn’t want to get you sick.”

I sighed a breath of relief and laughed quietly.

“It’s . . . it’s actually okay. I should be sorry too, for being so jealous and assuming things about you, Akira. I can see it’s all a big, silly misunderstanding.”

Akira nodded and smiled. “It is . . . isn’t it?”

After we finished our tea and caught up on recent topics, a serious question remained on my mind. I prepared to leave Leblanc and head home.

“If you haven’t worked for the maid and butler cafe . . . then who actually is ‘The Phantom’?”

Akira and I giggled in the quiet privacy of our meeting.

“Perhaps,” Akira began, “We’ll just have to head over there and meet him. After I get better, of course.”

I smiled with overflowing happiness. “Sounds like a date.”

***

When Akira was fully recovered, I could hardly contain myself. We sat next to each other on the small sofa in his room. He told me I could kiss him to my heart’s content. I kissed all over his forehead and over his eyes and his cheeks and his perfectly soft lips. I kissed and kissed and kissed and kissed him.

Akira was the first to move away.

“A-Ahh . . . you’re really into it today, aren’t you?” A blush began to creep over his face.

“I had to really hold back while you were sick . . . but now . . . I have you where I want you.”I could feel myself trembling from how much I wanted to kiss him.

I leaned in and let my heart satisfy itself, holding his hands and intertwining our fingers together. All I could think about was how much I loved him. Everything about Akira, his voice, his hair, his scent, his kisses. They were all I could think about.

We lost track of the time.

Akira checked his smartphone. “Our reservation with ‘The Phantom’! We’ll be late if we don’t leave soon.”

I collected my things and began to walk downstairs.

I stood halfway between the entrance of Leblanc and the stairs.

“Akira?”

“Hmm?”

“One more kiss before we go?”

“Mmhmm.”

***

The maid and butler cafe was much more grand than anything we could have imagined. In fact, it seemed strange for such a fancy and proper place to exist out of a small alley in Akihabara. I could imagine this was what Alice felt when she tumbled down the rabbit hole. When we arrived, Akira told the maitre d' that we had a reservation with “The Phantom.” We were shown to a table in a brilliantly grand room with a chandelier and gentle piano music playing, although the music seemed somewhat far from us. The maitre d' told us that “The Phantom” would be with us shortly.

Akira and I browsed through the menu.

“Everything is expensive,” Akira whispered. “As is expected in a place like this.”

“They have to pay the rent somehow, right?”

Before Akira could reply with something witty, our server arrived.

The Phantom was tall, with wavy light brown hair reaching down just to the top of his shoulders. He wore a red mask, long and pointed, shaped like a crow’s beak. His butler’s outfit was slightly different than the rest we had seen, his had white and gold details, unlike the others in black and red. He began serving us two glasses of ice water.

“Good afternoon! I’ll be your server for today. If you haven’t had a chance to look at the menu, may I suggest the pancakes? They’re absolutely delicious.”

**Author's Note:**

> My longest work so far! I really loved typing this, please let me know if you enjoyed it as well! Thanks for the continued support! I love Akira so much! He's my precious lovely boy, I'll keep writing about being in love with him for as long as I can!


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